Eagles Top Lions in Matchup of Undefeated Teams

            The Ambrose Lions and The King's University Eagles matched up on Saturday night ranked 6^th and 7^th nationally in the CCAA rankings as each team sported undefeated records. The Lions were coming in hot after a 3-1 victory last night against the Concordia Thunder.

            Slow starts are starting to become a trend after having another one tonight. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead to start the first set thanks in part to a number of miscommunications and faults from the side of the Lions. That isn't to detract from the play of the Eagles. They came in ready to ball, and dominant play from the get-go from Eagles player of the game #18 Ashley Lockwood and from middle #7 Brooke Risselada won the Eagles the opening set 25-20.

            The Lions would start to get things going in the second set, taking control early. Strong play from Taylor Hart and Gracee Fehr offensively helped turn the tables. But while the Lions were playing fault free volleyball, the Eagles were beginning to get a little sloppy. Giving up those free points would begin to haunt them as the Lions took the set to even the match at a close score of 25-21.

Ambrose continued rolling into the third set thanks to their player of the game Brooklyn Deol as she was racking up some of her team leading 13 kills in the set. But the Eagles were not going to be easily dispensed with, keeping the game close and trading leads throughout the set. Late in the set, the Lions managed to pull out a short run to finish it off in another close fashion 25-22.

Now down 2-1 after starting out the stronger team, the Eagles came into the fourth set with a vengeance. The Lions kept it close but were also getting bailed out at times by faults from the Eagles side, calls the Eagles were openly unimpressed with. Regardless, the Eagles kept their composure down the stretch as the fourth set needed extra points. The Eagles forced a fifth set after taking the fourth 28-26.

Entering the final set, the Lions started with first serve and were able to take a 3-0 lead. But once the Eagles got on the board, they were tough to handle, going on a 7-0 lead to force a Lions timeout. The Lions were able to fight back a bit, but the Eagles proved to be too much as they took the final set 15-10 to finish off the match 3-2.

Despite dropping their first match of the season, Ambrose still sits firmly in first place in the ACAC South. The Lions won't be back in action for two weeks, when they take on their intercity rivals SAIT on back-to-back nights.